City Beat: Mediacom buys park naming rights for $2M

Springfield City Council on May 19 approved an agreement between the Springfield-Greene County Park Board and Mediacom, selling the cable provider naming rights to Jordan Valley Ice Park and Cooper Tennis Complex Stadium.

The deal brings in $200,000 a year – $150,000 for the ice park and $50,000 for the tennis stadium – for 10 years. Officials unveiled the signage for Mediacom Ice Park during a May 20 ceremony. Similar changes were made at Cooper Tennis Stadium, now dubbed Mediacom Tennis Stadium at Cooper Park.

Parks Director Jodie Adams told council May 19 that Mediacom came forward after the Parks Department sent out a request for proposals through Philadelphia-based Front Row Marketing Services, which specializes in venue advertising and naming rights sales. The Parks Department paid Front Row $10,000 to determine the $200,000 value of the naming deal and find a slate of suitable candidates, Adams said.

Adams said discussion of naming rights has been ongoing since 1999, but work did not begin in earnest to secure a sponsor until the Parks Department took over management of the facility at the end of 2003.

“In 2005, we were able to acquire the services of Front Row, who analyzed our demographics, attendance, programs and events, as well as what the property’s name would be worth,” Adams told council. “In April 2007, the park board decided to move forward with negotiations (with Mediacom).”

Adams added that John and Harry Cooper, namesakes of Cooper Tennis Complex, were in favor of the agreement, with the intent that the $50,000 for the tennis stadium name will be reinvested in the tennis complex. The remaining $150,000 will go toward retiring the ice park’s $9 million debt load.

Larry Peterson, Mediacom’s regional vice president of operations, said the deal is one of many sponsorship opportunities.

“We’re already talking about special video productions and special shows highlighting all the Parks Department’s special facilities and all the events that take place at the park and the tennis stadium,” Peterson said.

Budget passed

Council also passed the 2008–09 fiscal year budget for the city. The budget, totaling $258.5 million, includes $5.2 million in cuts, intended to allow the city to make its full actuarial contribution to the Police and Fire Pension Fund.

The budget includes nearly $1.8 million in total reductions to the Parks, Health and Public Works’ transportation budgets, as well as $260,000 worth of funding reductions for nonprofit agencies.

The Parks Department, for instance, plans to reduce its after-school and summer youth programs and eliminate Firefall in 2009.

The cuts also include an employee reduction of 36.4 full-time equivalents, including 15 from the Police Department, five from Fire and 8.4 from Public Works. Those cuts will be made by leaving vacant positions open.

Councilman Gary Deaver said the cuts, while significant, do not solve the long-term issue of funding the pension plan fund.

Council could ask voters to approve a sales tax to bring the fund back to the appropriate level, though specifics of such a tax have not been determined.[[In-content Ad]]